Romans chapter 11. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, we come before You, Lord, thankful of all that You're going to do, Lord. And God, I prayed this morning. I've been praying all during the service, Lord. God, You've shown me what to do, Father. And God, I just want to please You. God, that's all I want to do this morning. Lord, that's my reason for being here. God, please. God, we'd ask You to do something with the message this morning. We beg of you, Father, in Christ's name. Amen. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." Then we look in chapter 12 and verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now we come to chapter 12 here, and he says, I beseech you therefore, amen. So all that's been said up to this point, amen, Paul says, I'm beseeching you because of what I already said, amen. If we go back to chapter 1, we see the danger of the rejection of God, amen. If we change the glory of God, if we change Him, amen, if we change the truth of God, it leads to a reprobate mind. It's interesting to me that the book of Romans, the first chapter, amen, he talks about changing the glory of God. And listen, it's the Roman Catholic Church that has changed the glory of God. Hey, they put Him on a cross. He's not on a cross now. He's such a, amen, they made a statue out of Him. Hey, He's not that, amen. Hey, His ways are far above our ways, amen. Hey, let's just admit it, God's God and we're worms and we need God, amen. He is not like us, amen. We can't understand Him. Hey, because we are not like Him, amen. Amen. I don't understand Him. One of these days I will. We find in chapter 2, we find the results of judgment. He warns us about judgment. He warns about the condemnation of the law in chapter 3, amen. In chapter 4, it talks about faith and grace. Amen. And faith is the portal to grace. You'll not get to grace except by faith. Amen. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And you won't get to faith unless you read the Bible. Amen. And he warns us about all that. And then he talks about the death of Christ and how we're reconciled by the blood of Jesus Christ. And then in chapter 6, it talks about the raising of the new man and the baptism, amen. Not water baptism, but the baptism of the Holy Ghost of God, amen. Amen. In chapter 7, we need to realize He tells us about our nature, the carnal man and the spiritual man. And how Brother Earl so aptly put it, we'd better make sure he's caged, amen. We're living with a lion, and we'd better put him in a cage. And then in chapter 8, we find victory, that He said we could be more than conquerors, amen. He said, of Christ, He said, and of Christ be in you. Hey, He's in us, amen. Of Christ for us, who can be against us, amen. We're more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, amen. Then we find in chapter 9, when we seek God, we have to seek Him by faith. It has to be sought by faith. And so many people today are seeking God for their own gain. Preachers are seeking God that they might be better preachers. That's the wrong reason. Amen. We're supposed to seek Him by faith that we might please Him. It's impossible to please God without faith. I'm telling you today in our churches, we're all mixed up. Our reasons, although we say it's good, we're doing good works, but it's for all the wrong reasons, amen. There should be one reason that you want to serve God. Hey, because you love Him and you want to please Him, amen. And if there's any other reasons, then they're the wrong reasons, amen. Amen. It has to be sought by faith, amen. Then in chapter 10, We have confession and profession and possession. Amen. Amen. Confession is that you come to the Lord. Amen. And you tell Him you're a sinner. Amen. And you deserve hell and you want to be saved. And there ought to be a time in your life that that's happened. Amen. If you've never asked Christ, you have not salvation. Amen. Amen. I'm just telling you. You've got to ask to get it. It's not bestowed on you because your daddy's a preacher. It's not bestowed on you, amen, because something special happened to your life, amen. I was talking to somebody once and he said, I was in a bad wreck and God allowed me to survive. So that must mean that I'm saved. No, that means that God's merciful on your soul, amen. You deserve to die in that wreck, amen. You deserve to go to hell, amen. But He showed mercy on your soul. Amen. I'd like to say before confession comes conviction. I mean, listen, I got convicted. I believed I was going to die and go to hell. Hey, I was convicted myself. I couldn't sleep at night. I'd toss and turn in my bed, amen. You know what I see missing in our churches? There is no conviction anymore. Nobody gets convicted over anything. We don't even blush anymore. Amen. Amen. When's the last time you was embarrassed by something you saw on television? Somebody said from even anywhere, amen, even in the church house, amen. Listen, I'm telling you, amen, we're not embarrassed anymore. There's no conviction in our lives. We do whatever we please, amen. There's no fear of God, amen. I remember when I got saved, God said, conviction on my soul. I knew as I said it, I knew I was going to hell. And I'd lay in bed at night worrying about dying. I remember I watched some stupid movie where a woman died, amen, and they put her down in that grave and she wasn't really dead, she came alive, amen. And that even worried me more, amen. I didn't know a whole lot about hell, but that sounded pretty bad right there. I said, my God, if I die, I'll take a .44 and blow my head off, make sure I'm dead, amen. What are you saying? I'm saying we need some old-time conviction this week in our souls. And get right with us preachers. We need to get right with God. Preachers ought to be lining the altars, amen, crying again. And we don't have it. Conviction always brings confession. Amen. When's the last time you confessed? Say, I'm saved. 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins. If we confess our sins. If we confess our sins. Some say, well, it's automatic. Well, why did he write it like that? If we. Amen. I don't believe this crowd running around here. That's why we see all these preachers falling. They don't think they need to get right with God anymore. Amen. I like what Brother Earl says. He says, I keep short accounts. Amen. Thank God, amen. Hey, I've had preacher friends, dear friends, just recently fall, amen, into sin. Why? There's no convention in their life. There's no confession in their life, amen. And then confession is between you and the Lord. But profession is between you and the public. Are you ashamed of Christ? Amen. Are you ashamed of Him? Amen. And then we have possession. I know that I know, that I know, that I know, that I know that I'm saved. Amen. Hey, He lives in me. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith lest you be reprobates. Amen. Do you know? I know I'm saved. He lives in me. I'm different now. I have desires for God that I never had before, amen. I like that song that they sing. It's my desire, amen. Thank God it's not my work ethic, amen. It's my desire, amen, to serve Him, amen. It's not that I just like to do it. I desire it, amen. Amen. I have Him. But there's two types of possession here. And I led you up to chapter 12. Paul said, I beseech you, therefore. What's he doing? He's begging. Why? Oh, the depth of his riches. Wisdom and knowledge of God. His unsearchable judgments. Amen. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. He summed up the last 11 chapters right there at the end. And then He says, I'm begging for some bodies. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies It's just mercy that you're still alive. I should have been dead. It's the mercy of God. Mercy and grace are different. Mercy holds off the judgment of God. Amen. But grace erases it. Amen. Hey, even after I got saved, I'm telling you, amen, mercy. I know that grace keeps me saved and grace makes me saved, amen. But mercy keeps God from killing me, amen. There's times in my life I deserve death even after salvation, amen. Thank God for mercy. And He's been merciful on many of you sitting in the pew this morning, amen? To be honest, a lot of you ought to be in hell tonight, amen? You ought to be in that place that the preacher preached about, Brother Steve, amen? Hey, it's just mercy that you're not there, amen? Hey, it's mercy that brought you to grace, amen? Hey, that you might have eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's brought you to this point. He's brought you to chapter 12. And now I stand begging for some bodies. The Bible tells us that a Lord is a spirit. He needs a body. Now, you possess Him. There's a second kind of possession. Does He possess you? Does He possess you? I'm begging for some bodies. God saved you. God's prepared you. And there's people sitting in this room this morning. He's brought to the point. And now, He told me to stand up here and beg for your body. It's interesting to me, he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That's why Paul said, I die daily. That's why he said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Paul said, I gave him my body. The first step to finding the will of God in your life is to give Him your body. He won't get your mind until He's got your body. That's why it's written the way it is. I'm begging for some bodies. Well, how do you give a body? Luke chapter 17. The apostles asked him there in verse 5, and the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had the faith of a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto the sycamore tree, Be thou plucked off by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it shall obey you. The only way I know to give him my body is by faith. The mustard seed. I looked up that. I studied that. prayed about that, read the commentaries, and they all concentrated on the seed. But Christ was talking about the faith. See, it don't matter about the body, whether it's fat, whether it's ugly, whether it's little. Amen? Whether it's intelligent? No, it's the faith. Amen? And I studied about this, and the Lord gave me that mustard seed. When it finally lets go, it has no will of its own, and it has no way of its own. It's completely dependent upon the wind to carry it to where it needs to be. When we are greatest in our lives, when we let go of this world, amen, and we put ourselves in the mighty hands of the Holy Ghost of God, amen, and He directs our lives and He carries us to the place we need to be, then, then and then only is our faith great. But you have to let go and give Him a body. I'm begging for a body. And the only way I know to do it, to please God, it's impossible to please God without faith. Where does the Holy Ghost take that seed? Someplace to die. Brother Charlie, He brought you to Glory Land Baptist Church to die. And when Charlie died here, see the fruit? You see all those kids standing up there singing? It's because, say, a man decided to die. He decided to give a body, an old biker body, amen, that's bruised and beaten up, amen. Pretty much worthless, amen. But it wasn't the body, it wasn't even the intellect, amen. It was the faith that he had in God, amen. When he allowed God to take over, amen. Listen, I'm telling you, it's not us, but it's He that liveth in us, amen. And how shall they see unless God has a body to live in, amen. Why are they all going to hell? Because God's not got bodies to live in. Because nobody will give their body. You young people back there, you've already got plans for your body. You girls, you've got plans for your body. You know what you ought to do? You ought to give your body to Christ. You say, well, I want to have a husband. I tell you what, if you give your body to Christ, He might give you, instead of a nobody, a somebody. If you're going to do it on your own, if you're not going to allow God to trust you, if you're not going to allow God to direct you, amen, if you're not going to give over to the Holy Spirit of God, amen, then I'm warning you, you're going to get a loser. But if you allow God, if you'll cast your care on Him for He cared for us, amen, if you'll give it all to Him, amen, I'm telling you, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in all these things. We've got it backwards. God, I'll do it for you if I have time left over. Every great woman of God, every great man of God comes a point in his life whether he has to determine whether he's going to give his body. I beseech you. I beg you. I beg you. How many preachers did we have surrender last year here? How many? Several. How many new ministries have gone out of Gloria Lamb Baptist Church since all those preachers surrendered? I don't know about you, but after I called to preach, I went and found me someplace to preach. This is Brother Charlie's pulpit. Amen. Go find you a nursing home. Don't tell me they're not in Alabama. Amen. Go find you a street corner. Amen. There ought to be something new crop up out of this church if you've got a bunch of new preachers. There ought to be some new missionaries. But the problem is, you won't give Him your body. I'm begging for bodies. Amen. Let's look a little bit farther. It says, holy, acceptable unto God. Now, how can that be? Well, after you give Him a body, He cleans it up. Let me just ask you, if you're Christ's possession, Do you not think He'd clean you? I mean, my wife's got some cups in the cupboard, and she's got some dishes, and they are hers. You know what she does? She cleans those things up. She makes sure every spot's off of them. She sets them up in the culprit, and they're just as shiny, ready for use at an instant's notice. Somebody comes in our house, man, there go the pots on the stove. She reaches up there to get those dishes, and she knows they're clean, amen, because she not only cleaned them, she put them in their place, amen. God's got a place for you to wait. God's got a place for you to work. God's got a place for you to pray, amen. if you're His possession. See, there's a little bit farther than just getting saved. Thank God for salvation. But there's another step. Some call it surrender. Amen? Here, I said, if you're going to let Him possess you, He needs a body. Amen? People are going to hell. He's an invisible God. The only way He can be seen. How shall they hear unless they have a preacher? How shall they see unless they have a witness? Amen. Wholly acceptable to God. You say, well, I ain't what I should be. Well, won't you come and give it to God and He'll make you what you should be. Amen. Look a little bit farther. It said, which is your reasonable service? Oh, I don't think it's reasonable. I don't think it's reasonable for me to have to leave my home, go on the road, or maybe go to a mission field. You know, sacrifice some of my TV time for Bible reading. I think it's reasonable. Was it reasonable for the Lord Jesus Christ to go to Calvary? Was it reasonable for Him to bleed and die on the cross of Calvary? Was it reasonable for Him to be mutilated like He was on the cross? Amen? Was it reasonable for Him to be put into open shame, stripped off naked, and hung on an old rugged cross? I ask you, was that reasonable? Was that reasonable? God ain't asking you to do nothing. that He hasn't far surpassed a Calvary, a living sacrifice. Other gods, the Muslim god says, come and die for me. Christ says, come and live for me and have life more abundant. That's my God. Amen. Give Him your body. Then let's look a little bit farther in verse 2. And be not conformed to this world. Separation from the world. Be not conformed. Don't be shaped by this world. Don't be shaped by this world's religion. There are many that think they've conformed themselves into godliness, but they've conformed themselves into a religion. Be not conformed to this world. What do I see in our churches today? Young people wanting to look like the world. Do you know what that tells me right off the bat? They haven't gave their body. They decorate it with all manner of stuff. Girls get those little butterfly tattoos. Hey, I preach the detention center up there and Brother Justice, I tell you, almost all those kids have tattoos. Why? The Bible says not to mark your body. Amen. A possession of the Lord, He don't want it marked up. He keeps it polished and shined. Amen. Amen? Do you realize that that little butterfly that you get on your leg, that one day you're going to be an old woman? Varicose veins are going to pop out. Everything's going to start to sag. When you turn about 60 years old, it ain't going to look like a butterfly no longer. It's going to look like a vulture, amen? And you guys, hey, you guys get that woman tattooed on your muscles, amen? Boy, she looks pretty good now. You can make her wiggle and everything else, amen. And you get a little older, nothing wiggles, amen, everything. You got flab hanging out here, amen. She's all stretched out, amen. Hey, you say, when you put her on there, she had a pop bottle figure. Now, she looks like a court. Amen! There's always a danger of tattooing somebody's name on your body. You might not end up marrying that person. Amen! And then for the last day, who is Susie anyway? Amen! What I see, we're conforming. Our clothes. Amen. The feminization of America. Read that book. That's a good book. You'd quit wearing pink shirts if you read that book. Amen? I'm telling you, I don't want to look nothing like them! I want to be a man. I've been almost like Jimmy Hood. I ain't going to wear deodorant. Amen. My wife says, you've got a hair hanger now on your nose. I said, thank God I'm a man. You're not going to pluck my eyebrows. Amen. If they grow together, I'll be an Ernie. Amen. I will not conform to this world. I'll not be like a sodomite. Why? Because I've given this body to Christ, and what I put on and what I say is a reflection of Him. You say, why do you wear a tie when you're praising? Why do you wear a coat? I ain't much of a preacher, but I want to look like one. Amen! But I see it in our churches. We're conforming. I see it in my home church. I see it everywhere. I've seen some of the people from Glory Land out away from the church. They look different. My, my, I wonder why. They make fun of my wife because she always wears dresses, or she wears those long culottes. I said, go ahead and make fun of us. I don't care. God's blessing us. I want to be like Him. You go ahead and make fun of us. Hey, my wife, I remember the first church I went, nobody wore any dresses. They all made fun of her. Amen. After a little while, I never preached about it, but all of them seen her, and pretty soon, they started wearing dresses too. Said, you're not to preach about that stuff, amen. Well, go ahead, conform to the world. Be like the world, amen. Amen. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. He'll not get your mind until He gets your body, because If He doesn't give me body first, then your mind will always be on your body. What do we do? We do so much to please this body. I mean, what we eat. One thing made me mad down there at Katrina. There was a woman went by and they were giving them some of those rations that the army eats. or whatever they are, amen. And they held out those to her and she said, I can't eat that. Well, my son-in-law was in Iraq at that time fighting for our country and he was eating them. I felt like reaching across the TV set there. We'll stop. Why? I've noticed one thing in that disaster. Everybody's mind was upon themselves. Their own body. In great crisis in the past in our country, everybody's mind was on others because they had Christ. Hey, listen, He's not going to get your mind until you give Him your body. Amen. He said, But you'd be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What is the transformer? The substance of things hoped for. The Word of God. This is what changed my mind. I had all kinds of preconceived ideas when I got saved. But this book changed my mind. I did not change this book. It changed me. I did not correct this book. It corrected me. It transformed my mind. It healed my mind. It filled my soul. It gave me hope when I had no hope. Amen. It gave me peace when I had no peace. Amen. This is the greatest thing that God has ever given us. And our minds are not upon the book. Our minds are upon the next TV show. Our minds are not upon prayer and communication with God. But all the things that are raging out there in the world. It is a blessing to be on the Navajo Reservation. I didn't hear no news. I didn't hear nothing. The world could have been falling apart. Terrorists could have – we were saying, well, terrorists might show up in America. Brother Charlie said, they ain't going to come here. Amen? I was out there in the middle of nowhere, but God showed up. I'd rather be in the middle of nowhere with God than somewhere without Him. Our minds need renewed daily. We need the Scriptures. Then last of all, it says that you may prove. You may prove. I said, Brother Charlie, how do you know the will of God? How do you know what to preach? They asked me that one time, a group of young boys, I don't know if I always have the right message. But I know I've got the right book. How do you prove? The only way I know to prove is to walk. We walk by faith. When I first went out in evangelism, I had no meetings. Amen. I didn't go on deputation. I didn't do none of that stuff. I just said, OK, Lord, I didn't surrender right. I told him it wouldn't work. And that's been six years. We're in our sixth year now. I didn't surrender right. I'm not a great man of faith. I said, OK, God, I'll try it. I'll show you it won't work. I went to church that Sunday morning and preached a friend of mine who's a missionary to the jails and prisons and the youth. He got up and preached, hanging on to Plan B. God said, sell your surveying equipment. What'd you do? I got a whole lay mat to service. I said, you sure you're in the will of God preaching that message? What'd you do? I sold my sermon and quit. This is our sixth year. I think that's proof. He said, well, you sure that's what God would have you do? Well, there wasn't no other door open. See, God didn't give me the whole picture. My whole life was like Hansel and Gretel. He leaves a little crumb. And I pick it up. Amen? He doesn't show me the whole picture, amen? I think maybe he knows I couldn't handle it, amen? But I just keep picking up crumbs and picking up crumbs. And if you keep picking up crumbs, one day you'll have the whole loaf. Amen? I think that's proof. I mean, I haven't lost any weight. That's proof. Not that I haven't tried. Me and my flesh is in a daily battle. Amen. The renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect, full of God. Let me ask you this morning, do you want to know the will of God? Do you really want to know it? Are you scared to death of it? I was. I'm still scared of it. But I gave Him my body. And He's took such good care of it. My wife had a blood disease When platelet count went right down, she could have bled to death. That's been several years, probably 10 years ago now. Boy, we prayed. Boy, we went down there and they took us to the cancer ward. They took out bone marrow sample. We thought they was talking about chemo and all those things. She went to the doctor the other day. At that time, that count was down to like 17,000. She could have bled to death if she had cut herself. She went to the doctor the other day and got her blood done. 309,000. Don't you tell me God don't take care of His possessions. Say, what can we give glory for? Our health. It's because God, we're His possession. I'm just telling the truth. I know Brother Jack, he ought not to be walking around. And the only reason he is, is because he's God's possession. It's not his smarts. Amen. And it's because he gave his body to God, as big as it is. How'd you like to take care of that thing? Amen? Amen. I'm just telling you, God can take care of this possession! If you want to find a will, God, You've got to give Him a body. It's all that's in me this morning. I'm begging for a body. I tell you what, if you'd give your body this week, we'd see revival. Some of you have never been saved, maybe. Hell is looming in your future. I can tell you for sure that His possessions never see hell. I've been translated that I might not see death. I'll never feel death. I'm not afraid of death anymore. Well, I've been translated. I'm in His possession. What's going to happen? They're going to carry me to a couple of angels. Bubba and Cletus, amen. They're going to come down and get me and say, come on, Charlie. Amen. Of course a redneck can have redneck angels, amen! I ain't never gonna see him. But if you're here, and you're not his possession, amen. What about it? Be quiet over there. In all seriousness, Some of you young people, you need to. I'm begging for your body. Because Satan wants it so badly. Some of you guys that are preachers, you need to give Him your body. Give Him your body. Transform your mind. Find the will of God. Because all that He done for us, It's worth it. Dear Lord, I pray this morning, Lord, that you'd have your will and your way. Lord, even now, I'd ask them to come. Father, we need some bodies in the army. The ranks are getting thin, Lord. We need some great preachers to be risen up, Lord. We need some mustard seed faith, Lord. We need some people that's willing to let go of this world and give themselves to Christ and all that they have, Lord. God, I pray, Father, You do that. Father, I'd ask You to send conviction in our midst, Lord, of our own laziness, Lord. God, our own lack of care for our brethren and for the lost. Help us, Lord, I pray in Christ's name. Amen.